A programmable processor, such as a microprocessor for a computer or a digital signal processing system, may support one or more “multi-cycle” machine instructions in which a single machine instruction directs the processor to perform multiple operations. An exemplary multi-cycle instruction is a “Load Multiple” instruction in which the processor performs a series of load operations in response to a single machine instruction. Another example is a “Push-Pop Multiple” instruction that directs the processor to push or pop multiple registers to or from a stack. Because multi-cycle instructions pack multiple operations into a single machine instruction, they may increase code density and improve the operational efficiency of the programmable processor.